29 October 2009

We Need More Points So I Can Order From Papa John's

Dear Jim Zorn,

Surprise! I’m writing to you again. Really, I’m just curious as to what you were doing during our loss to the Eagles on Monday night—I saw you holding papers and things and trying to look busy, but what were you actually doing? You weren’t calling plays, so I’m guessing that you were simply there to model the latest in Redskins game gear. Burgundy has never looked so average.

While you were busy auditioning for America’s Next Top Tanned Coach, our offense began playing even worse than usual. In his weblog, Rich Campbell posted the Redskins’ rankings for each major category this morning and I’m going to address the highlights because every once in a while I like to show that I care about stats and not just which Redskin is the hottest (answer: John Riggins. Come on, don't deny that you want a piece).

Anyway, let’s look at where we suck first:
Punt Return Average (29th/32): I’ve said it before and I’m going to keep saying that Randle El is a TERRIBLE punt returner. I’d like to see Santana Moss get in there because we might actually get some returns instead of fair catches. On Monday night I realized that the reason why Randle El signals for the fair catch so often is because he’s afraid that the ball will hit him in the facemask, bounce onto the field, and be returned for a touchdown by an opposing player. While it’s noble of him to not want that to happen, I’d much rather someone else return for us. And average more than 4.5 lousy yards.

Sacks/Pass Attempt (28th/32): Jason Campbell gets sacked more than once for every ten times that he tries to throw that darn ball. This is because of a combination of things: a mediocre quarterback who can’t make snap decisions, poor play-calling, and an offensive line that, at this point, is mostly just offensive in general. If things don’t get better, Jason Campbell is going to be another Patrick Ramsey. I hear that until her was released October 3rd, he just sat on the bench in Tennessee, hugging himself and rocking back and forth, whimpering, “Can’t throw, people will sack me. Can’t throw, people will sack me.” All these years later, if anyone makes any sudden moves by him, Ramsey falls to the ground in the fetal position. After his tenure here, I don’t blame him. I’m actually impressed that he’s still alive after all the beatings that he took.

Interception Rate (29th/32): This one is on the defense, of course. It’s hard to blame them for being in 29th place, though, when our offense is getting intercepted on so often, thereby padding the rankings for every team that we play against. Still, if we had actually intercepted every ball that our players almost intercepted, we would probably lead the league. But “almost” only counts in horseshoes and drowning kittens (so what if I didn’t weight the bag down? Judging by the flow in that river, they were definitely going to die sooner or later).

Points per Game (tied for 28th/32): We can’t score more than 17 points per game. Do you know how that makes me feel? Papa John’s has that awesome deal for one free topping per touchdown (it doubles the topping if we win, but I know better than to expect that) and so far it hasn’t been cost-effective to order for only two free toppings. I want some pizza, dude.
Third Down Percentage (28th/32): We convert on third downs less than 30% of the time. This is a MAJOR PROBLEM and I see it happening every week. I don’t know if it’s Jason Campbell’s fault for who he throws/gives the ball to, the play-caller’s fault for telling him who to give the ball to, or the players’ faults for waiting for the ball ANYWHERE IN FRONT OF THE FIRST DOWN LINE. Maybe on other teams it’s okay to expect a player to run anywhere between two and fifteen yards to make the first down, but OUR team can’t do that. I’ve seen Jason throw to someone practically standing on the first down line and still not getting it. He MUST throw the ball on third-and-long situations and he MUST throw the ball to someone outside the first down line. Even if he misses (and hey, it’s likely), he has a much higher chance of getting the first down this way.

Okay, this letter has gotten away from me a little and become too long. I know, Jim Zorn, that you have trouble reading anything that doesn’t have pictures, so I’ll save my thoughts on what we’re doing well for another day.